A World Left Forgotten
by alchemy's homunculi
Summary: In the back of Prussia's mind he had believed he would be one of the first to go, but fate gave him a second chance and sometimes, second chances can be become unwanted; especially when you're one of the few left of a world that's now only ruins in a new one.
1. Prologue

**So this is my second Hetalia fanfiction that I've had at the back of my mind for a while.**

**Read and Review**

Everything seemed to be in a stand-still, no birds were there to chirp or even squawk for that matter; if there had been water even the smallest of ponds would have stood out from the copper-colored dirt that looked like an endless desert. It should have been a lifeless barren region, but the motionless body of a former nation broke the misconception. The scene was like a painting, Prussia, a unique speck of white-clarity among the copper-grounds; a symbol without any one true interpretation, but always thought-provoking.

The sudden sound of a choking gasp, finally started time up again once more. A cloud of dust was kicked-up around the nation as he began to sit up; various cracks emanating from his joints with each gradual movement.

His disused red-eyes dilated upon opening to the sun's rays. For a few seconds his mind was as blank as the scenery around him, but like a breaking damn questions began to flood his mind; all of them were different, although, all of their origins could be traced to a single thought.

He reached down to dust off any dirt that might be on his clothes but his hand grazed his dirt-encrusted stomach rather than his shirt, looking down he noticed that half of shirt wasn't even there anymore, and further inspection showed it wasn't the only part of it missing.

His skin that was not covered by what he had once recognized as his clothing was no different in color from the ground, if he had a way of looking at himself at this moment the person he saw would be unrecognizable. 'Is this a joke...or did I get drunk and end up here? It's still better than the time I woke up in a Mickey Mouse costume in that never ending maze of trees.' He stopped his line of thought and rubbed at his face, trying to remember where that forest was. 'It was that . . . place . . . above America I think, Antarctica maybe.'

He turned three hundred and sixty degrees, his gaze wandered all over the strange land. 'Looks like the Australian-outback, but without those dead looking plants.'

The slow thump of his heart and brief inhale of brackish air were like cell phone vibrations wrapped in cotton and placed six feet underground compared to the world, his world. 'Those un-awesome jerks put me here, didn't they?' He tried to run a hand through his hair but the moment his fingers began to move they became halted by an army of tangles.

Little attention was put into pulling his hand away; for each theory or question had all died down. Except for one. 'But . . . why am I here?'

. . .

Germany sighed in bliss as he leaned back into the couch with a book in his hand. He honestly couldn't remember the last time his boss let him go home early, for a very long time he has had to either stay longer then he should or when he did get off on time there was always some errand that needed to be done.

He glanced from the prologue to the clock hanging on his living room wall. It was five o clock and he had officially nothing left to do, before turning the page he reached for his beer bottle on the coffee table in front of him.

"Germany what's that-a sound?" His bottle slipped out of his hand and cracked on the floor, the amber liquid pooling at his feet as the Italian walked into the room; oven mitts covered his hands and he carried a large pot with him.

"When did you get here!?" The blond yelled as he jumped up from his couch and pointed towards Italy frantically; remembering that he precisely locked all of his doors and windows and even turned on the security system.

Italy's face dropped into a somewhat disappointed frown, oblivious to the problem of making a surprise visit at his friend's house. "I don't know, I called your-a boss looking for you and he said you were-a home."

"But how did you get in here?!" There had been no indications of Italy breaking in and hoped that he didn't short circuit the system by accidentally dumping pasta sauce on it again.

Italy bent down to place the pot by his feet before digging into the pocket of his suit pants. Germany's eyes twitched faintly at the sight of the small silver house key, its glimmer taunting him. "Where did you even get that from?!" Italy tilted his head to the right, confused as to why the blond was so upset.

The reason was because Germany knew that there were only three keys and he specifically remembered where he put all of them. One was in his back pocket and two were with Prussia in case he forgot where he put one.

His thoughts came to a halt the moment they went to his brother; a low growl escaping his throat as he bawled up his fists on either side of him. Without thinking, Italy took a step forward, concern shining true on his face. Germany's urge to explode stopped with a gasp when the pot was toppled by Italy's errant foot, a sea of rotini and tomato sauce flooded onto the floor like a tidal wave making the spilled beer tiny in comparison.

Chunks of diced tomatoes and other vegetables splattered onto Germany's shoes and pants; Italy's eyes darted from the floor to Germany's wide open mouth. The Italian gave a choked chuckle as the previous expression made its way back on to Germany's features.

He suddenly extended his arm, pointing towards the door to the right of the room. "Foyer, Broom closet, mop, get it." He ordered through clenched teeth. He closed his eyes for a moment and heard the all too familiar dash of feet retreating from the room.

He stood stiffly among Italy's mess till he opened his eyes and remembered why Italy had chosen to walk into the room.

"What could he of heard other than me breathing?" He shut his eyes tightly again and focused on the background, at first her heard nothing but the sound of Italy scrambling through the crowded closet till a beat began to vibrate into his ears.

"Sounds like," He grumbled upon realizing what it was, "Disco Pogo." He finished bitterly.

. . .

Germany darted down the dark stairway to the barely lit basement, stopping suddenly before walking off the first step. The concrete-floor before him was littered with various bits of trash, a lot of them being empty beer bottles and Styrofoam boxes for leftovers.

For any other nation they would have thought it was always like this, however the blond knew better especially since he had been down here yesterday morning and everything seemed to have been fairly clean. His eyes traveled from the floor to the couch in the middle of the room and from there, to an old TV in front of the couch; which, for some reason was on a Spanish soap opera. The source of the noise he heard up stairs, though, was playing from the speakers of a computer that was currently in the only other room in the basement-an unoccupied bedroom.

He navigated his way next to the couch and half-glared at the sight before him. He expected Prussia to be sprawled out with some of his limbs hanging off the sides with an idiotic smile plastered onto his face but was surprised to see that his back was facing the TV and that his body was in a semi-fetal position, one of the empty bottles clutched to his chest.

Prussia's chin was pressed up against his neck while his face was covered by a pillow hiding his face from Germany. He groaned softly as Germany began to shake him, thinking that he was asleep. "Bruder wake up, I need to talk to you." Prussia's arm reached out and swatted at the air as a way of telling him to go away.

"Go away West." His words gruff, hinting to Germany that he was likely hung-over.

"Nein, not in until you tell me what the hell happened here and why you gave Italy a house key."

He didn't respond at first, only when Germany started to shake him again. "Ugh, fine." The blond's hands went back to his sides as Prussia slowly started to sit up but refused to face him. "You see." His eyes darted around the room. "Austria broke in here last night and trashed the place completely I of course beat him senseless but he took one of my keys as he escaped on the back of Hungary's horse and gave it to Italy so he could annoy you." Germany rubbed at the top of his forehead not amused by the situation in the least. "We're going to go beat him up, right?" Prussia demanded, looking to his brother for the first time.

He grunted. The pasta covered floor, the fearful Italian, and the lying ex-nation all meshed together to form one perfect headache. "I kno-"

"Come on West now is the perfect time to get revenge on the pansy for ruining your day." He started to poke at Germany's chest, eyes shifting away once again.

Germany growled. "We are not going to, he's not the one who spilled pasta all over mein floor."

"Come on, just a little ass kicking that's all I ask."

Everything appeared to jump at the force of Germany's foot as it stomped into the floor; cracks forming beneath his boot. "Nein! We are not going to beat Austria, possibly Italy, but not Austria. Right now all I want to know is the truth and I'm not going until I hear it!"

"If you don't know the truth then how do you know that what I'm saying is the truth?"

"Because it is ridiculous and obviously a lie."

Prussia was fell silent, much to Germany's annoyance Prussia sat back down into the position he was in before. For a second, Germany thought to slap him, but something from the corner of the room caught his eye. Germany could have sworn the empty trashcan in the corner had been full yesterday-and situated across the room.

The rim of it had a crack running from the top to the base and was lying on its side. "Did you-" He paused. "Kick it across the room?" It would explain why the majority of the trash seemed to be in a line. Fake snores sounded from Prussia. "Damn it tell me what happened!" Germany snapped.

In a second Prussia jumped up from his spot and turning to face his brother. "Why should I, it's not like what goes on in my personal life matters anymore. Personal drama is weak in comparison to the shit that comes with nation problems."

"What are you trying to say?" Germany's expression fell upon seeing his brother's face, it looked as if a purple bruising by his right eye was just barely starting to go away.

Crossing his arms, Prussia grumbled under his breath. "Just go back up stairs and play with your little friend. Maybe if you're lucky he'll wear that pretty green dress while he cleans for you."

"What green dress, you're not making any sense!" Germany sighed in exasperation.

Prussia smirked. "Of course it makes no sense to you; you're not awesome enough to get what I'm saying."

"Now you're just acting like a child."

"I'm older than you so you don't have a right to call me a child!" Prussia snarled

"This is my house und I can say what I want to if anyone should be restricted it should be you!" The blond roared back.

Prussia's grin only strengthened as Germany's patience began to wear down. "You mad?" He taunted.

"I'm always mad at you."

"Then why don't you slap me, huh if you hate me that much?"

"What?"

Prussia stepped closer to him. "Go on slap me, it's not like anyone will suffer from it. I don't have people, so it's not like anyone but me will be on your conscious."

"My people are your people a-"

"Although I don't think it would matter much if I did have people, innocent lives suffering never seemed to bother you before," Prussia sneered.

The force of slap reverberated off the walls like metal as Prussia fell backwards into the couch, he watched Germany with wide eyes.

"Fine don't tell me what's wrong." The younger scowled, giving up and walking away. "It's not like I care!" He called back, ascending the stairs.

He took long irritated strides back to living room; Italy was there by the time he got to the top. To his relief, the pasta mess was already gone and Italy was now in the process of sweeping the broken glass into the dust-pan he held. Hearing him walk up behind him, he turned around; facing Germany. "I cleaned it up for ya." He motioned to the floor and the pot that was now on top of the coffee table.

Germany inspected his work. "Wow, I knew you were a fast runner but I didn't think you were a fast cleaner."

Italy's eyes glanced down towards the spotless wood floor. "I've had-a lot of practice." Germany was quiet, too awed by Italy's trance like state to say anything. "Oh I forgot, did you-a find out what was making that-a sound?" Italy inquired, leaving his trance.

Germany blinked, a bit taken back by the sudden change, but easily composed himself once more. Sending a furtive look to the stairs, remembering the incident with his brother. "It's just Prussia being a big winy cry baby about something," he muttered before recalling the key. "Which reminds me, why did he give you a key?"

"Huh? Oh um I remember him saying that he wanted me to-a come over more-a often so you wouldn't be-a so lonely. Then he mumbled something about distraction."

Germany despite his better judgment decided against asking Prussia further, if he wanted his help than he would ask. "Oh who cares, as long as you're here you can make dinner."

Italy nodded. "Yay! would you-a like to help?" He implored.

Germany shook his head. "You go ahead without me." He watched as the Italian ran out of the room and into the kitchen with glee in each step.

Prussia was never the emotional type if anything he did a pretty good job at hiding things; even with his annoying personality, there were occasions in which a glimmer of something would show up in his face, yet he never sulked very long about it; if anything, he disdained such behavior if the way he went about calling Austria a little girl for sulking was anything to go by.

Germany growled. 'So what's wrong with him now?' He wondered.

Back down stairs, the last of Prussia's memory of before began to fade away as he finally started to fall asleep with the TV and the music acting as a lullaby. He felt numb, a taint of bitterness on his tongue. He could no longer recall why his last thoughts were of her or why he drifted in to peaceful sleep after all that had happened.

. . .

The dirt around rose up like a cloud; Prussia's viciously narrow stare seemed all the more intimidating by the jagged appearance of his body, but just as suddenly as his features had taken up the look, it relaxed into something less mean and more pouty.

"Should have known that would be the breaking point for West." The dryness of his mouth easily being passed off as due to breathing in the dessert's air and not for what it truly was. "Of course Italy joined him in doing this and Austria must have jumped at the offer to get rid of me here too."

But, he had a reason for the way he acted towards his brother, a reason that he believed led him here. His jaw twanged with pain as he clenched his teeth and his fingernails dug harshly into his palms; there was a point in old anger and regret where hitting things just didn't work anymore. "And.." It came out as little more than a hoarse whisper.

He shook his head causing dirt to flutter around his face and he let his 'manliness' come back to him. "And after that . . . I would be surprised if Hungary refused to help as well." The specific memory hit him hard, yet not hard enough to leave him utterly destroyed. The feeling in his stomach was not an uncommon one, but a strong example for why he drinks.

"Take a deep breath." He whispered while easing up his hands and jaw. "And let it all go." He complied with himself, letting the old problem disappear to join the other ones in the back of his mind and let the new one become his new focal point.

With no better idea in mind he started to walk, knowing that there had to be an end to this somewhere. All the while unaware that some things can't be forgotten.

. . .

A tiny puff of dust rose up from the ground at the impact of a rock, thrown on the ground by an olive-skinned man. His Dark brown eyes stared at it for only a moment before moving his gaze towards the other rock that was almost invisible from the distant he was from.

His blistered fingers smoothed down his darkly-colored hair and stopped once he felt the straight part of his hair start to curl by the base of his neck and stopped completely half-way to his shoulders; noting the auburn tint was much more visible in the sun's rays.

One hand tried to shield his eyes as he gaze out at the empty expanses; the weightlessness of the worn sac slung carelessly over his shoulder helped decide for him if it was time to turn back.

Even if he didn't turn back, whatever direction he took wouldn't change a thing, there was no way he would find an end to it with the amount of markers he had left. The man shrugged his shoulders, not really caring that there wasn't anything more out here. He bitterly remembered that this was a pointless action, but they insisted...

Why he agreed in the first place had more to do with the fact that he felt better out here than back there; it was their loss anyways, he figured. Slowly he turned back, getting ready to take as much time as possible to follow the trail. A fleeting image had him stop in mid-turn, other than the prints behind him, everything else seemed untouched which made the markings in the dirt even more noticeable to him.

It wasn't in until he was a few feet away from it that he could he clearly tell what it was, from the size and shape he made the assumption that it was feet walking off towards the West. He knew that they were newly formed or they wouldn't even be there to begin with.

'But who would be dumb enough to go that way.' He thought, remembering that the sea was in the opposite direction.

'Maybe they didn't need to go that way . . . maybe they all already have enough food and water to survive without stopping.' His right hand pulled back from the where he had rested it on his hip; suddenly he felt a stinging pain from the fresh red gash at the top of his index finger. He hadn't even realized that his hand had slipped off the cloth covering of his knife.

His other hand pulled out the knife and brought it up to his face. 'They wouldn't want me to.' He thought.

A grimace soon made its way onto his face, 'They also want food too...'

The next thing he knew was that he also was following the tracks step by step made by a person he had never known and never seen which made it all the more reason for him make up his mind. 'Food is food, doesn't matter where it comes from or where you get it and they should be grateful to have it.'


	2. Chapter 1

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the story and hope that it continues to get good.**

**Special thanks to Summer Leigh wind for favorting, reviewing, and Beta-ing.**

. . .

'Why should I even try going back to West, if he didn't want me there that badly?' Suppressed troubles built up in Prussia with every limping step. A zephyr from the west kicked dust up with it, sprinkling another layer of grime onto his already sand-coated skin.

He lifted his left forearm up and tried to defend his clamped-shut eyes from the irritation but he ended up being just as blind as he would have been if he hadn't lifted his arm. The uncomfortable feeling of a being a dried out like sponge only added to his bitterness. 'It's not like I need them or anything, I can survive perfectly well on my own with just mein awesomeness and . . . and . . . that's reason enough, I will live and they will cry from how great I am and West can come crawling back to his big bruder and beg me to save his ass from total unawesomeness.' He thought, delight kindling in his heart.

His chapped, copper-coated lips turned up to form a Grinch like grin. 'Then Italy will be making me food and Austria will spontaneously combust and-.' Wonderful thoughts on the "future" surged through his mind like electricity, sparking to life a plethora of good-cheer. 'Yeah, I can get through this. Just need to find a way to get away from all this damn dust!'

His mouth parted slightly by accident, but in those few seconds, dirt flew into his mouth causing him to have a coughing-fit. What made it all the worse was that there was little moisture left in his mouth making it difficult so he couldn't swallow it down or spit it out and his coughing only let more dust in the moment he got some out of his mouth. His hand came to his mouth, suppressing his throats reflex as he fell to his knees, the harsh impact of him hitting the ground almost felt like he had fallen off a bike and onto concrete.

Overwhelmed by the dusty wind, Prussia turned away from the direction of the blowing dirt; with a burst of newly found energy, he sprinted off back the way he came.

. . .

The olive skin man sighed, looking down at the ground before him. Earlier, he had dumped out the last of the rocks in his make shift-sack and tore a strip of fabric from the bag; that piece was now covering his mouth, acting as a somewhat effective barrier from the sand. For the most part, he kept his head down and only looked up occasionally. Unfortunately, the wind had made the tracks more and more unrecognizable. 'If I don't turn back, I'm might not find my way back again.'

He glanced up quickly to scan the landscape in front of him; he had planned to turn back and forget all about the soon to be dead man's tracks in the sand, but instead he stood still his eyes staring at his feet once more. The smallest of manic smiles made its way onto his lips. He griped his knife tighter with each step he took, coming closer and closer...

Prussia ran with the wind, the dirt mingling with his tangled-locks as it flew behind him, he hadn't spent much time focusing on his hair but guessed that it too, looked similar in color to the ground.

He gritted his teeth in frustration; his lungs had started to burn from the exertion he was putting his body through, but he continued on at the same pace. His determination numbing the pain. He believed he could survive and get away if he only knew where he was.

His pace had begun to slow down, yet the wind only picked-up in speed and whipped at his exposed back. 'Where am I even going and how do I know that I'm going in the right direction? I could be running straight into miles and miles of dirt and wouldn't even know till I walked out of it days later and by then, West would of exploded from his guilt of leaving me out here and that would suck.'

Up to this point, Prussia had the intention of catching his breath and thinking over a short and simple list of options, but all reason left him at the sight of a shape what appeared to be a person in the distance. At that moment, it was like finding gold in a barren world...That was all the push he needed before he darted off, hopeful and curious. Like an unsuspecting lamb towards the slaughter house.

Both of their hearts thumped faster and faster as they became more defined in appearance, neither of them knew the other's reasoning for charging towards a complete stranger.

In Prussia's case, he was about to learn the true meaning of stranger danger.

The knife in the man's hand was slowly slipped back to its original place in his waist-band and he casually jerked his shirt farther down to cover the majority of it from the unsuspecting man's eyes. The pounding in his heart became unbearable as it hit his rib-cage like a stone being thrown."

Unlike the man's heart Prussia's only slowed, his legs following soon too. The man could only copy the weakening pace. Tension from the planned murder mixed with the fear that Prussia had seen his knife made him feel like an impending storm was on the horizon.

Prussia, less than ten yards away from him, collapsed to the ground on his swollen knees. To the man, Prussia's stance reminded him of a penitent man as well as one close to death by the hands of another, both of were stances he was intimately familiar with.

He could have charged at him like so many times before and end it, but his instincts told him to walk, not run to this man. When covering the short distance between them, not once did his hand go back to the tempting blade resting heavily against him. Now, he stood looking over this man...or whatever it was.

He had expected to find that the trail would lead to someone with a bag of supplies or something that could hold significant value at least, however it seemed the only valuable thing this person could claim would be the life they were now clinging to like a child would to a doll.

"How are you still alive?" The almost unrecognizable Italian accent that came through in the man's hiss made everything in the world feel like it came to a stop for fallen man.

Prussia up until then had been staring down at the ground, his mind slipping in and out of reality. Something hadn't felt right, since he first saw this other man in the dirt. Lifting his head to gaze at the at the other, the man stumbled back at the sight of him. The olive-skinned man had never seen red eyes before, the closest being the occasional child he came across who had one or two pink-eyes due to illness. Things rapidly began to click in his mind then, his clothes, his eyes, and the fact that he was wandering alone out here made it clear that that this person was sick.

The man's hand started to creep back to his knife, mercy killing sounding better than selfishly killing someone for food they didn't have. It was the perfect alibi . . . well if anyone ever found out. "I'm too awesome to die," His hand froze on the hilt of his blade at the sound of Prussia's hoarse whisper.

"Awesome . . . what the heck are you talking about?" He demanded.

"I'm too awesome to die, that's what."

The man narrowed his eyes at Prussia. "What's awesome even mean!?" With a harsh yank, he pulled Prussia by his neck up, inspecting the other's blank features.

"Awesome means..." he paused, considering his choice of words. "Awesome. I am the definition of it."

Prussia only heard the man snarl before toppling back at the force of a push from the other. The only thought that came to him in subsequent events was; 'I'm going kick the absolute shit outta this kid.'

The man pulled the knife out in a swift motion, turning the blade towards Prussia's chest. 'Mercy killing, that's all it is. Maybe this man will thank me when he is among the angels and our heavenly father.'

"Aldo!?" A voice rang out in the distance, Prussia made a grab for the knife as it fell to the ground by his feet.

Prussia's red eyes peered out in the distance were a real glimmer of hope now made its way towards the both of them.


	3. Chapter 2

**Dextra2: I'm glad you think so, the OC's in this story aren't really there for Romantic interest just saying.**

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**. . . **

Prussia's weary eyes gazed down towards the glimmering knife he now held softly in his rough hands, an opportunity arising. The man in front of him had turned away, unintentionally letting his guard down to what he believed to be a harmless and useless dying man.

A part of his mind tugged at him, enticed him to plunge the tool deep into the man's back and let him bleed out. However, another part of him restrained the feeling and tried desperately to continue to keep it at bay as the instinct to protect himself from the threat before him fought viciously and relentlessly in the back of his mind.

The man before him watched the figure approach them, irritation evident in his callous stare. The outline of a woman with ivory skin and amber hair became more and more visible to the point of her being just as solid as the man upon stopping beside him; her stance and expression challenging him to make another move.

"What reason did you have for following me out here?" The man kept his tone low, though, he did nothing to hide the frustration that mingled with his words and continued to linger in the air as dust blew straight into the woman.

The ash brown cloth she pressed into her face hid much of her expression from him, but Aldo was not oblivious to what she presumably felt, for a moment everything was silent. "I had to tell you something." Her voice although just as soft as his also gave off a commanding edge, one which the man detected just as easily as the Prussian behind him who also made note of her rough British accent.

He grunted, rotating slightly as if ready turn around completely and finish his previous actions. "Anything you had to say could have waited until I got back. No one, even you, should ever follow me out here." He paused. "You'd get lost," he said with malice rather than concern one would expect.

Her spring green eyes shifted from staring directly into the man's dark brown ones to Prussia's, gasping slightly at the color. "This man . . . who is he?" The man's blistered hand shot out and griped the woman's arm, stopping her from bending down to Prussia's level.

Instantly, she snapped her gaze back to him, letting her eyes battle a silent fight with his. "He's sick." Slowly, his expression matched his calm tone and now looked at her like a doctor with bad news. "It's unlikely he'll get better." The man motioned with his chin towards the ground where the knife had been, still unaware of its absence. The woman, however, was able to see it in Prussia's hand from where she was. "We can, however, help him." The suggestiveness of his tone only registering as sick and twisted in her mind the moment she realized what he was getting at.

With some force, she jerked her hand out of Aldo's grasp and tumbled to her knees, only a few feet from Prussia. It wasn't until then that she noticed that he was giving both of them little to no attention for his eyes were solely focused on the blade, his face oddly trance like. Had he of known what he looked like at that moment, he might have agreed with man when saying he was sick.

"Your right." She looked at him as if looking at one of her children, but with more pity than motherly love. "We can help him, help him by getting him food, clothes, and letting him stay among us." The more she had continued the more Aldo shook his head in disagreement.

"There's nothing at the camp that can help him, just look at him." He took a step towards Prussia, looking down at him as if he was nothing but a shell of a human being. "He's far from any other country's villages and is walking practically naked in all this dust. Judging by his skin and hair I'd say he's been out here for days. If he doesn't die from illness he'll probably die from exhaustion or any number of other things."

The woman only looked to Prussia, not even glancing back to the man as he ranted at her. "Your god would want you to help this man through this even if it's the end for him."

Aldo stiffened the moment the word god came from her mouth, but it was not enough to stop him from adjusting his features to their neutral tone. "God would want me to end this man's agonizing journey and let the faults of his past disappear." The built up aggravation slowly evaporated into the air. "Paige . . . let this man no longer suffer bitter loneliness, so he can be among family and friends once more."

"He will be." Her head slowly turned back towards his, "But not in heaven."

"Everyone is already weak, it would be unfair to take more food from them and give it to some man who most likely won't make it."

Her eyes narrowed towards him. "They'd deem it unfair if we didn't give him food."

"I think they made it clear who they wanted to represent them already." Even without the cocky look most people would have given her, she was still even more enraged with his statement.

"They don't know what they were getting into!" She began in an inaudible murmur that turned to a bitter mutter that was heard by the man.

"They didn't want death to be in their immediate futures."

A few tense seconds passed as she tried to let her resentment settle, if only for a little while. "They were fine then and they will be fine now."

The knife's blade finally caught the man's attention but rather than move to yank it out of Prussia's hand and hold it against his neck, he stood motionless. "Look into his eyes." She hesitated, puzzled by his request before complying. "You're looking at him but he's not looking at you, I bet he's not even conscious of the reality around him. The only thing that's going through his mind right now is what to do with that knife. Do you really want a man with intentions like that around everyone else?"

A growl escaped her desperate hold on her negative emotions, all it would take was one more jab, one more word and she would lash out; a move that even to her saw as unwise. "You had the knife on him first; this man only contemplates if he can kill you not what else he could use it for."

He gave a disbelieving gasp. "You don't see the intentions behind those dying eyes, that's not fear; I can see that killing is nothing new to him."

"You know nothing." She hissed.

"Coming from you, it's almost as if an infant was saying it."

Silence followed the woman; in her mind she also contemplated something. "Let me bring this man back with us, no one will have to suffer in caring for him-only me."

There was a hesitation on Aldo's part, but he eventually turned away from both of them; leaving without a yes or no reply. A few moments, later the woman refocused her attention back upon Prussia who seemed to have not moved in any form. He finally flinched when she outstretched her hands to cradle his face between them. Slowly, she inched his face up so that his eyes locked onto hers and for a few moments reality seemed to fade back into Prussia's eyes. "You're going to be fine, I can already tell that finding you was only a sign that god has higher plans for you."

. . .

With her arms crossed over her chest, she watched the man in front of her gradually walk away from her. Hungary stood in front of the door of her house, making sure for that Prussia really was leaving.

Biting his lip he suppressed any sound that would compromise his facade to the woman watching him with a somewhat curious stare. Each labored step caused a throbbing sting in his back and head, but Prussia didn't dare stop or show any weakness as he trudged on in his accustom way; telling himself that hurt pride was much worse than any pain from a blow from Hungary or other nation could deliver.

He stopped yards away at the sound of a soft sigh. "You're a terrible faker." He gave no response to Hungary and continued on the moment she too, began walking in his direction.

She didn't see him scrunch his nose at her like a snob only that his pace picked up despite his body's protest. "Well you're a terrible liar . . . and hitter."

He stopped once more at the feeling of her hand coming down heavy on his shoulder. "Is that so? I could always try harder next time or maybe even now if you want?" A look of alarm was evident in his eyes for only a few moments before he recomposed himself.

He placed his hand upon hers; letting it linger there. "I wouldn't want you to exhaust yourself while trying to." With little force, his hand pushed hers off of his shoulder and he once again, began to walk away.

She snickered, to her the response was to pathetic for anyone to believe other that himself. "Is that just your way of saying you've had enough?"

He couldn't see her shake her head in amusement at his disbelieving laugh that had a slight nervousness in its sound. "Please a-a little girl like you could never-"He stopped mid-sentence, no decent retorts coming to mind.

"The only thing about you that I can't hurt is your ego." He winced, a surge of pain running up his leg made him stop once again. "There's no one you can blame other than yourself for this and if you don't want any help than that hurts no one but you."

"What are you talking about, I'm perfectly fine so I have no reason to blame anyone which hurts your ego."

"I beat you with my skillet and now you're going to walk away in pain because you don't want to admit that I hurt you."

"Whatever, I don't even care if that's what you think 'cause that's obviously not true." Silence followed him much to his surprise, he had expected her to reply to his lie with the truth that he would immediately shoot down and they would continue their familiar bickering.

Finally, after much deliberation, he turned around only to find that she was already gone.

. . .

In his mind, the memory dispersed the moment he came into consciousness. And although he had woken up, he kept his eyes closed and listened to the voices that now surrounded him.

"Mum, I think Mr. Urich is coming by again," The voice was clearly young, a couple years too early for puberty. Judging by the tone, Prussia believed it to belong to a young girl.

"Go tell him the same thing as before." Even though he was out of sorts when he had first met the woman, he identified it as belonging to the woman from before. She let out an exasperated sigh, before continuing. "With all of these visits, you'd think it's almost as if he has nothing better to do."

"Love, I'm sure he's just looking out for everyone." This voice was rather masculine and older; Prussia bet it belonged to a man in his forties-or close to it, anyway.

"What could a sick man possibly do to all of us?"

"He could make us all sick or if he's dangerous then he could hurt a good number of us-even if he can't kill us all." There was a pause. "With that said, I think it might be best . . . if we have the kids stay else where for a while."

"Johnathan, there is nothing wrong with him."

"How do we know that? Even if he won't try to hurt us, he's sick and should we really have them around something they could catch?"

"You say that as if there's a good chance he will intentionally try something." The patience in her voice beginning to falter.

"I . . . I don't trust some of the men banished here."

"You trust Aldo though." Even though she mumbled, it both of them were able to hear it.

"Aldo doesn't act the same way that people like Marco Costache do."

There was a thump as if someone was dropping something on the ground. "What's wrong with Marco Costache?"

"He's just . . . strange, I don't like the way he looks at Violet Harris and the other girls."

She chuckled at him. "Violet's a very pretty young lady, almost all the men look at her. How does that make him different from them?"

"There's something different about him and a lot of people can see it."

"Hush, he's a very nice man. He was one of the few that tried convincing people that I should be the leader."

"That bears no indication of him being a trust worthy person."

"Don't worry about Marco, love, I bet this man is just as good as him."

A laugh built up in Prussia's throat, one in which he could not contain for long. "Hungary would beg to differ . . ." He whispered in a hoarse voice, unaware that he had said it aloud.

"I knew he was awake." A third voice rang into Prussia's ears, one which he identified as being Aldo's.

Knowing that they now knew that he was awake, Prussia slowly opened his eyes seeing no reason to keep them closed. The world was blurry for a second but it soon became clear. His eyes darted around the room, well, if you could call it that.

To him, it looked like a decent sized Arab looking tent, it wasn't furnished like a room; having only poor quality blankets covering the ground, a couple of bags in the back filled with unknown items, and four blankets made beds other than the one he was currently sitting up on. It was barely enough space for four, maybe five people to fit in comfortably.

At the entrance of the tent were four people, two of which he recognized quickly. but the remaining pair were a mystery to him. The one sitting next to the women he believed to be called Paige, was rather scrawny and short for a man who looked and sounded his age. From what Prussia could make out in the shadows he had long, dark ash-blonde hair that meshed into the scraggly beard that covered the lower half of his face and what he wore appeared to be made of materials similar to that of the tent's.

The other person he didn't recognize was a child who hovered a few feet behind Aldo as he stood in the tents opening, the young girl had hair of a similar color to Paige's, yet it was longer and kept back from her face with a braided pony-tail. Her dark brown eyes looked at him with a nervous curiosity.

From this view he had a better look at Aldo, he unlike the other three was rather well built in muscle and height. To Prussia Aldo looked barely young, most likely early to mid-thirties.

"Jonathan take Agatha somewhere." The man, Jonathan, complied with Paige and took the little girl behind Aldo out of his sight.

Aldo stepped into the ten further and stood next to Paige. "Your husband and daughter?" Paige blinked at Prussia, a bit taken back at him.

"Husband, what's that? The little girl's my daughter and Jonathan's her father yes, but husband?"

Before he could answer, Aldo stepped in. "I'll explain it to you later. We have more important matters to discuss."

"I can assure you both of two things; the first being that I'm not sick, this is just my natural eye color and the second being that I'm not a murderer, however seeing as you've been hesitant about not killing the awesome me it's not going to matter one bit to you." Aldo narrowed his eyes in annoyance at Prussia's somewhat cocky tone.

"Your right, I'll judge that for myself-"

Paige cut him off. "But before all that we need to ask you some things."

"Make it quick, I have somewhere to be you know."

Aldo snorted. "Of course you do."

Neither of them noticed the irritated look Paige gave him, though, even without seeing her face, Aldo was pretty certain she'd sent them one. "Why were you ou-"

She cut him off again. "What's your name?" She smiled at the low growl Aldo made behind her; she wiped it off before turning around to face him. "Don't you think that it would be better to know his name first before anything?"

Aldo gave no response, but Prussia did. "You want to know who I am." He started to laugh, earning him strange looks from the both of them. "I am the awesome Prussia."

He had expected a number of different reactions...the ones they actually gave him were completely unexpected, Aldo was about to speak up, yet like the other two times he was cut short; not by Page this time, however.

All of them were dumb folded as a young boy, no older than six or seven rushed in and jumped into Paige's lap. "Noah-what are you doing here! Were you listening in on us?"

"I wanted to know who he was."

"I could have told you later."

The boy ignored this. He glanced once towards Prussia, his eyes widened slightly at the strange sight of his eyes while Prussia resisted the urge to roll his own at yet another strange reaction to his red irises. "Mum . . . why's his name the same name as our country's?"


	4. Chapter 3

A hush was the response to the little boy's question. His gaze darted from his mom, to Aldo, and then finally locking onto Prussia, beseeching him for an answer. Aldo ignored the look of irritated confusion Paige sent him, expecting him to tell her son something. Aldo, like Noah, stared at Prussia, though not with the same questions in mind. Instead, he studied him with a curiosity similar to Noah's, wondering not who he was, but if he was the person Prussia admits to being.

In the middle of all this, there was Prussia who with wide, baffled eyes looked at all of them with only one thought, 'what the hell is going on here?!'

In his mind he went over what Noah had said over and over before a suitable answer popped up. The three in front of him gasped as Prussia jumped up from his spot and pointed an accusing finger towards Aldo, whose curiosity left him in that moment. "This," Prussia motioned towards everything and everyone around him. "Is West's doing, isn't it!?" Noah pressed himself closer to his mother, becoming frightened at the strange man's now maddened expression. Paige with her son curled up in her arms was still able to inch herself away from him, hoping to get close enough to the tent's entrance to let her son get away on his own if necessary.

Aldo, however, stood up, taking a step towards him. The only one of them ready for anything Prussia would be capable of doing. "West? You aren't making any sense again!" Growled Aldo.

Prussia sneered at him, seeing Aldo's confusion of the situation as proof that his accusation was true. "You, you're Italian. He convinced Italy to join in too, didn't he?!" Prussia's attention went briefly to Paige and Noah. "They're British, England probably thought it would be amusing to trick me like this. If he's in it then...who else did West bring in?!" A long list of people surged through his mind, of people who would happily join Germany in a campaign of tricking him and leaving him in the middle of nowhere came to mind. "Oh definitely Austria and Hungary too, Romano hates Germany too much to help him in any way, Japan doesn't seem like the type to do this; although, China might be willing, America would do it for laughs so he might be in on it too...France and Spain better not of known anything about this-"

"Who are you talking about, are those even names?" Paige voice rose up, effectively cutting into Prussia's rant.

Before Prussia could continue, Aldo decided to speak up; rather than yell like Paige, his voice was quiet-almost soft. "Italy . . . you said Italy. Tell me now, how do you know that name?"

Prussia scoffed, Aldo's reaction really did seem like a last resort in his eyes. "What idiot doesn't know who Italy is? Even America's people know who Italy is and some of them don't even know the difference between a country and a state!"

Tears started to form at the corner of Noah's eyes, it wasn't just that Prussia in a way just called him and his entire family idiots for not knowing what 'Italy' even was, but that every second of Prussia's rants felt like he was only proving Aldo's notion that he could be a psychotic murderer. Paige didn't feel the same way as her son, what was once startled fear now developed into an insulted frustration. "We may not know what 'Italy' is or even means, but we definitely know enough to say that not knowing what it means does not in any way make us idiots." Paige sneered as Noah's eyes closed tightly, as if by doing so it made him invisible to everyone and everything around him.

Prussia by now was becoming more and more ticked off at these people, his brother, and every other nation that he believed to be setting him up for a joke, the type of joke that you saw in shows where the people, after being played for a fool, learned some corny lesson about treating others with respect and became a better person from the experience and everything was fine and dandy in the end. To Prussia a good and honest bruder was going to be the last thing he called Germany after this was over.

"I know that name." At Aldo's words the tension between Prussia and Paige seemed to break, if only for a short while. "Near the Itravokian capital . . . there was an expedition, they learned of that name from documents in the ruins of the Saint Peters Basilica church."

Prussia started to back away from him, trying to remember the church he was talking about; a memory of a time in which he had toured Rome for a few days came to mind. The memory of the church, however had Prussia narrowing his eyes at Aldo; this was it, it was everything he need to prove this was a scam. "Liar! I knew this was West's doing."

"I'm not lying to you, if I was I would tell you how nice Paige's clothes look on you." He commented with a bit of dry humor.

Prussia glanced down once, he only had a moment to feel any irritation over wearing such a ragged dress and could only hope that Austria wasn't outside to take pictures of him. "You talk as if that church is six feet under! When even I know that it's still there in the Vatican City and . . . you act as if Italy is doesn't even exist anymore!"

Paige was at a loss for words for she didn't even understand what Prussia was saying, let alone know how to answer him. Aldo was hesitant at first for even he didn't know if the truth would ever in a thousand years register in Prussia's mind as true. "We never formally introduced ourselves." Everyone was taken back by this. The rage Prussia held temporarily simmered down as Aldo looked him in the eye giving him the type of look you would see a soldier give his commander. "I am Aldo Urich, former Itravokian soldier and . . . the first king of the new country of Prussia."

In the moment that followed, Aldo could of swore that he had saw a flicker of belief and a passing look of despair play out in Prussia's eyes, but it all happened so fast and before he could do anything, he saw the man's countenance revert back to its previous expression. He took a step closer to Aldo, his stance almost challenging him to a fight. "If you see West tell him-" His hands bawled up at his sides, his ragged nails digging into the palms of his hands-drawing blood; the force of his rage causing his whole body to shake slightly. "Tell that not even I would stoop this low!" His breathing became hard and jagged, how distraught he was beginning to show, however he was upset for a different reason than Aldo was hoping for. "What type of bruder lies about being . . . being something you're not!" He looked from the small, cowering boy in Paige's arms that had begun to open his eyes again, then back to Aldo. "Not my bruder!"

"You're right." Aldo spoke to him in a hard tone, one similar to Germany's. "Your brother would never lie to you about that."

Aldo had to suppress the twitching in his lips that dared to upturn them into a smile at the satisfaction of being successful; for it was obvious to see in Prussia that to him, the world around him had come crashing down around him. But, unlike the times that Prussia had wondered what it would feel to once again be on top of his previous rivals and enemies, it was nowhere near pleasurable or exhilarating as he believed it would be.

Had her son not been in her arms, Paige would have thrown her arms around him; keeping him from leaving in a desperate run. All Aldo did was look down at the ground and move out of Prussia's way, letting him run out and through the camp of similar looking tents that they called a country and back into nowhere, a place that had once been him and Germany.

Aldo took slow steps out of the tent and watched as his people stared at the strange dirt covered man wearing a brown dress sprint past them like a child running away from home, not wanting to look back at the memories of good and bad that had led him to go and had stopped him from leaving sooner.

Aldo grabbed Paige's wrist as she darted out of her tent, Noah still inside as instructed by his mother, the force of the jerked stop caused her to fall backwards. She snapped her head up to look at him like a spoiled child being told 'no'.

"You're letting that man leave?!"

He shrugged his shoulders as if the survival of Prussia wasn't hanging in the balance. "Give him some time to sort things out on his own."

"Didn't you hear him?! He's sick, mentally! I-It's like he thinks he's a nation or something."

"I should have known something like this was coming." To Paige, his statement seemed to prove he wasn't listening to her.

"What are you talking about?!"

It was nearly the final straw for her with Aldo, strange responses and the man calling himself a nation; she too, felt like she was about to go insane. Aldo still watched the fleeing image of Prussia disappearing into the swirling dust, but rather than think of him he pondered over a memory, a memory of man who also was named after something much larger than any regular man.

"A few years ago back when I was still enlisted . . . there was a man younger than me but higher in rank." For once, she listened to him and kept her malice in check and for some reason as he spoke the insane frustration was also pushed back with it. "All my commanders looked at him as if he was gods' prophet; in fact, some of them might have believed he was god, but he would not let them look to him like that. He was an extremely religious man but a very powerful one too, maybe that's why he came off as corrupt to me."

A sickening laugh had him stop from revealing the true name of this man, but judging by the way Paige was acting he could tell that she already knew. "You're telling me that you met the Itravokian republic."

"I met him, but I bet he even remembers me from even before then; back when I was nothing but an ant, tiny in comparison to everyone around me who helped build him up."

In a flash she stood up in front of him, any amusement was now gone upon realizing how serious he actually was. "How can one man represent an entire country?!"

"I don't know what reason god had for creating people like them, but I don't question it."

"I-It's just not possible."

"You only say that because you have never encountered anyone like him."

"How do you even know that he's a country?!"

"Well, we found him naked in the dirt all alone." He began, speaking to her like she was just as naïve as her son. "And we've never met him 'til now, but he knows the name of our country even though we only officially named it so yesterday and he also knows the names of countries that haven't existed for centuries; some of which I've never heard of and acted as if he had known nothing of the past years since he came into existence-meaning yesterday."

"I-I'm still not sure."

He snorted. "You just don't want to believe me." She almost felt offended by this, but realized something important about Aldo's defense of the man, Prussia. "What are you snickering about?"

"I just realized how happy you must be that I kept you from killing him." She smirked, which only widened at his silent response. Not wanting to stick around for another snide comment, Aldo began to walk away from her in search of Prussia.


	5. Chapter 4

_Hand in hand Prussia walked contently with a small, golden-haired boy at his side; bandages covered the boy's head and other various parts of his body like a finely wrapped present, although slightly damaged from the trip it went through to get to the receiver. He savored the feeling of the mid-afternoon sunlight that shined through the partings in the cloud and onto his exposed skin, knowing quite well that at any moment that the feeling could disappear._

_"Where are we going?" Glancing down towards the boy, his red irises connected with curious and innocent blue ones, it was almost as if nothing of the boy's past encounters left any marks on him other than the ones that littered his body._

_Instead of answering, Prussia smiled at him. It wasn't the usual smirk that haunted Austria and Hungary's memories or the one that had smaller nations slightly afraid of his future intentions. For once in the life of the great Kingdom of Prussia, there seemed to be some good intentions behind that smile._

_The boy was left somewhat uneasy at the strange response, but didn't once try to take his hand out of the other nation's grasp for some reason that neither of them would ever fully understand. It didn't matter, though, because to them it seemed as if the clouds were never going to block the sun ever again._

Prussia felt the tinge of bliss disappear among those clouds for even that couldn't numb the feeling of exhaustion and another pain that he would never-not even now-admit to feeling. His previous denial desperately tried to prove that Aldo was nothing but a liar, a pawn in Germany's plan to make him a better bruder.

Something in his heart, rather than his brain made it clear that in a way, he already knew what he had become, but just didn't want to face it. The dirt he stepped on didn't feel like Germany's...it felt like his.

He still sprinted through the dessert, though, hoping that there was an end; a place where everyone was lined up in a row looking disappointed that he had figured them out and at this point he didn't care what would happened if he found them only that they were there in front of him rather than below him.

How could this be true! Everything that everyone around him had done now meant nothing more than the dirt that covered it, every single accomplishment and war was nothing any more. Nothing but forgotten pains and forgotten triumphs. It was almost as if all the blood that had once been spilled over the land in the name of their country had finally dried up, their sacrifices now really did mean nothing.

_Prussia watched from the sidelines as a very glorious sight unfolded before him. What earlier had been harsh and heavy bombardment had abruptly ceased and stopped at the sight of two men, a drummer and a British officer waving a white handkerchief._

_That single, little piece of cloth reflected in the eyes of one naïve nation an end to something heart-wrenchingly terrible and a beginning of what he hoped was peace and prosperity for as long as the earth still turned._

_Although Prussia and him both new that this wasn't the end of everything, there were still things that they needed to be taken care of, but for the time being, America let him and some of his men enjoy a little bit of the victory despite the fact that there would come a time before all of this ended that he would have to face the man he had once called 'brother'._

_America finally looked towards Prussia, though they were far apart, he could see the smile on his face that was no longer childish-or at least wasn't in this moment._

_Prussia only nodded towards him, holding back any indication of approval; maybe he would pat him on the back at the very end of this war._

_He had to give it to the kid though, this was the start of something amazing-maybe even awesome. Even if America's future as a nation came to be, Prussia would look at all of his accomplishments here on out as partly his as well (he trained him after all)._

_Neither of them knew that there would come a time in which all this wondrous glory would have to come to an end and the events of the battle of Yorktown would one day be forgotten or so he thought._

The thing that stumped him most was why he cared in this way, he wanted to look at everything that had happened as ironic; even when everyone was still alive and well his legacy was nothing more than a memory etched on a piece of paper that filled school-children with dread upon seeing it on their classroom chalkboards.

But even back then he was remembered, were as today everyone he had come to know were now nothing more than a name-if they were lucky, that is.

Finally, Prussia stopped dead in his tracks. Squinting he tried to look out into the distance, he had reached his tipping point; the peak of despairs springing out at him like clothes from an over-stuffed suitcase.

The cause, of course, was simple; Prussia in that moment, realized that out there in the distance-around him-there was nothing and no amount of running would ever lead him home. He was stuck in this pain, this new reality. He took deep, shuddering breaths in an attempt to hide more than he wanted to show.

He kept his mind busy by thinking about silly little things like how tall Aldo was or why Paige's hair was cut in a bob style, anything to keep him from breaking down completely; not because everything had changed so suddenly (or not), but because all the accomplishments and lives that had died in war for what seemed like nothing; the nations they had been fighting for, the nations that Prussia had come to know, were now dead.

These thoughts quickly lead his scattered mind to the one, true, truth; 'They are dead'. Prussia stood still not knowing what to do and what to think.

Without any forewarning, he began to laugh. It started slowly at first, but soon began to grow in volume. "They're . . . they're not dead." His denial somehow found a way to cover up the most obvious fact. His eyes found the ground at his feet, he gave the dirt a small kick causing dust to fly up a few centimeters. "West . . . Italy . . . and Hungary, they're just buried under this dirt. Waiting . . . waiting for the awesome me to dig them out."

"You're going to dig them out? That's going to take a long time if you're the only one doing it." The laughter choked in his throat, the voice that just spoke wasn't Aldo's or Paige's, but he recognized it even so.

Prussia hesitated for a beat before realizing that he had to look up; he couldn't hide from the manifestation in front of him. "Oh, hey there West!" Prussia grinned, in front of him stood the nation who he had once taken care of and trained, a little speck of dirt that had grown up to become a nation with a strong influence on the countries around him and a dark past that was left trailing behind him.

"I thought you'd be happy to see me..." It felt like he was looking at a ghost, but he believed that Germany was still alive. With that in mind, it didn't take him long to come to a conclusion about the boy in front of him with the same cut blond hair and blue eyes as his bruder, dressed in the same clothes that he had used to wear back when he was yet to be Germany. This boy in front of him was nothing more than a sick delusion created from his mind.

His clothes however were torn, though not the decayed scraps like Prussia had woken up to, no, they looked as if they had seen war.

Prussia remembered that he had seen him like this before. The boy currently gave him a small tired smile and looked at Prussia the same way someone would after finding something they had been searching for. "What's your name?!" The boy was startled, didn't his bruder know who he was? Could he have forgotten about him too?

"H-Huh?" Prussia noted that the accent wasn't the regular German one that his bruder had quickly developed, but was the tatters of the accent that Holy Rome had once used.

"Is your name the Holy Roman Empire?" This time he was slow and rather calm about how he said it to him.

The little boy was quiet and looked as if he didn't even know the answer. "I-I don't know."

Prussia started to grow impatient. "Is it Germany?" This time he hissed it out, causing the boy to flinch.

"I don't know!"

"Name all the wars you've been in!"

"What wars?"

"Tell me all about the nations that you know!"

"I don't know anyone other than you bruder!"

Prussia began to shake again, his emotions beginning to come to a boiling point. "If you don't know anything then how do you know me?" He said through clenched teeth.

The boy looked distressed like a tiny child being told to answer a hard question correctly unless he wanted to sit in time out. "I-I just know that-your my bruder!" The boy's spirits began to pick up, noticing that Prussia had lost the terrifying look he had been giving him. "Bruder, is my name Holy Rome?"

Prussia looked at him as if he was defeated and had lost all hope. "No."

"Is it Germany?"

"No."

"Then . . . what is my name?"

Prussia sighed. "You have no name . . . you are nothing." Tears welled in the boys eyes at Prussia's harsh words. "Not anymore."

"But-" He cut his sentence short, his brother was perplexed for a moment until he noticed the sound of slow footsteps behind him.

"Prussia?" It was Aldo, his king, his boss. "What are you doing?" Prussia turned around swiftly, giving him a strange look. Couldn't he tell what he was doing?

"Talking."

The look Aldo gave him was stranger. "To who?" Prussia glanced back to the boy who stared at him with the hope that he would tell Aldo the truth, tell him about his brother.

Prussia only sneered at the young boy, dashing the boy's hopes upon the dessert grounds. "Myself of course, no one but me is awesome enough to carry on such an interesting conversation that would have me running away from everyone just so I could talk."

The boy wasn't the only one who knew that what he said was a bigger lie than telling him that this whole thing actually was set up by Germany and other nations, yet for some reason Aldo chose to leave it in favoring of asking something else. "There you go using that word 'awesome' again, when will you tell me what it means?"

Prussia laughed at this and started walking away causing Aldo to follow him as well. "If you're going to be my king then you have to know what awesome means or else you're not going to be any good . . ." The two of them continued a pointless conversation up until they came back to their camp or rather their capital.

During this time Prussia only looked back towards the boy once. He had winced a bit at the sight of the miserable face the boy gave him, never had he ever seen his brother so crushed, so distraught than in that moment, however it wasn't as if Germany had never looked or felt that way before; but how would Prussia know? Especially if he had once been separated from him by a wall.

Still, Prussia kept moving forward and acted as if he had only ran out there to stretch his legs.

. . .

It didn't take long for Jonathan to find Paige standing with her arms crossed near the outskirts of their capital. Agatha up until then, had trailed after her father clenched to the end of his shirt but let go at the sight of her mother. With a smile, she ran up to her and threw her arms around her mother's waist; glad to see that nothing bad had happened in the time she was gone. Usually, Paige would have held her daughter close, sometimes even hummed a soothing song, but at the moment all she did was glance towards her and place a hand on her back.

"Love what happened to Aldo and that man?" Paige kept her eyes locked on the desolate nothingness in front of her, still not looking at either of them.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I have no bloody idea."

He placed a gentle hand onto her shoulder. "Was that man actually sick?"

She chuckled, causing her daughter to take a step back, Agatha sent a worried glance to her dad; afraid that her mom had caught whatever disease Prussia had. "Oh you were right, he's the sickest man I've ever met."

"That's not exactly a good thing," the man muttered. Trepidation filled him just as it had his daughter, if the man was so sick that even Paige would let Aldo take him back into nowhere to kill him then who knows how badly it could affect her. "Are you . . . feeling okay?"

Her chuckles instantly stopped, but the grin on her face didn't falter. "Don't worry he's not that kind of sick."

Agatha stepped in front of Paige, hoping to catch her mother's attention so she would stop looking to the miles and miles of dirt surrounding them. "What type of sick is he?" Agatha spoke this time.

"Mentally." Finally, she turned away from the no man's land in front of her and switched her gaze to Jonathan behind her. "And you were also right to worry if it was contagious because Aldo seems to have fallen under the same delusion."

Agatha backed away from both her parents, whimpering at the sight of her father's upturned lips. Had he caught her mother's madness? "If that's true then it looks like you have caught it as well;" Paige narrowed her eyes at him, amusement still evident on her face. "You've always thought Aldo to be a lot of things, insane wasn't one of them, what makes you think he's mad now?"

Her mouth opened to tell him all about the man named after their nation and how Aldo believed it to be true, however a new hand clamped down on her shoulder again causing her to yelp in surprise. "You know, your daughter looked as if she was about to run straight into the nowhere land."

Swiftly, Paige twisted around to face Aldo and Prussia. She blinked, surprised to see her daughter cowering away from all of them looking quite uncomfortable around people she believed to be completely off kilter. "I see. And you're back with . . . him." She then mumbled, "Unfortunately." Under her breath.

"And I see you still don't believe me." His tone was serious, though there was a mocking edge to it-even without hearing her last remark.

"It doesn't matter if she believes you or not." Jonathan was taken back by Prussia, his voice and expression much improved from before when it held a half-deranged quality. Without warning, Prussia grabbed Aldo's shoulder and started dragging him away from the family. Although, it was more like guiding him away; seeing as Aldo appeared to have no problem with it.

Paige, unlike Jonathan and her daughter, started after them, dumbfounded as to why Prussia didn't seem to need her approval. "Oi, w-what do you mean it doesn't matter?!"

Neither of them stopped to answer her. Prussia did, however, laugh at her question. "In all honesty I really only need him to believe me. Even in the past, people other than leaders didn't even know I existed."

Paige stopped dead in her tracks, looking like a person realizing something terrible. Growling she yelled back at them. "Are you saying that I don't matter to this country?!"

Prussia didn't respond to her immediately. "Don't you have something to take care of?" He pointed to her family behind her.

Even though he didn't exactly answer her question, it was easy to see what he thought. With her hands clenched on either side of her, she watched as Aldo directed Prussia away from her and out of sight, she knew where he was going to and knew she would eventually go there.

Leaving her frightened child, confused lover, and her son, who she couldn't even be certain was still in their tent, behind her.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey I just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who's reviewed so far such, super special thanks to Ice Cream13, That one Eccedentesiast, The Shadow demoness, Summer Leigh wind, Dextra2, Iris99ify, and Anon's. **

**I'm really excited for the future chapters now that I got the exposition out of the way and I hope you all like it just as much as me. READ, REVIEW, FAVORITE, AND FOLLOW. **

. . .

It didn't take long for Prussia to realize where he was being directed to. In the middle of the jumble of tents they called a capital was the largest one of them all. Its size was probably around the same size as the ones seen at outdoor weddings or the ones commanding officers brought to battle camps in the time of war.

It was a castle compared to everything around it. Prussia winced at the feeling of Aldo's grip on his wrist as it tightened before being pulled, it was Aldo's way of saying hurry up. He ignored the look Prussia sent him, not feeling any fear or guilt over it.

"Given the state of everything I would think that your people would be jealous of such a magnificent palace . . . If they don't believe you deserve it." Aldo was unfazed by his jeering tone.

"We use it as a place to discuss problems and to keep maps of the land around us. I sleep in a small corner cut off from the rest of it." Prussia had to admit that Aldo's plain and monotone replies were a bit irritating to him but guessed that it was better for Aldo as a leader to be this way, besides, he wasn't completely emotionless; sometimes it affected his word's inflection, though, rarely in a good way.

Prussia snorted. "Sounds like you don't own a lot."

"My people have more than I do."

"Funny, I would think a king would at least have more than his people-even in these circumstances."

Aldo shrugged his shoulders. "I've considered taxing them before."

Glancing at some of the tents and people around them, Prussia inspected them closer than he had before. "That would be a bad move on your part."

"Why's that?"

He smirked at Aldo's now interested expression. "Let's just say that history's never been kind on leaders and countries who tax more than people can and want to give."

"Hm, then I guess our situation isn't going to improve." Prussia narrowed his eyes at Aldo's emphasis on 'ours' thinking it was directed towards him like a vague insult.

"You know, to you being this poor might be degrading, but it doesn't really bother me." Part of that was a lie and Prussia knew it; seeing as it was somewhat degrading to be this poor when he used to be very respectable and well off in the past-or at least he thought he was.

"Really why's that?"

Prussia's lips fell for a moment, but quickly recomposed and widened more than before after thinking about it more carefully. "If Austria and Russia were here today they would laugh at how weak and poor I was but there's no way they can be laughing at me seeing as they're literally and always have been metaphorically below me."

"What if they're laughing at you from heaven?" Prussia stopped walking for a second causing Aldo to do so too, however, when they both started walking again Prussia sped past him not giving any reply.

The sight that greeted Prussia when he entered the tent was disappointing to say the least. Sure, he knew that given the state of everything else, that what he would find inside would surely not be anything luxurious, but inside was practically the same as Paige's tent-if only larger.

The only real difference was the large slab of worn wood in the middle of the room and the cloth drapes that cut off a little less than one fourth of the tent itself, he guessed there was even less in Aldo's 'room'. Like Paige's tent there were a stuffed bags in the back. Rolled up papers stuck out of a few of them, Prussia guessed they were their maps.

"I'm a bit curious." Aldo's voice entered the room a second before himself, rather than observe the room like Prussia he stared towards Prussia. "Why doesn't it matter that no one other than me knows who you really are?"

"This is a kingdom, you're the king so you're my boss." Prussia paused, for some reason the word boss didn't sound right to him at this moment. "In a sense they don't have the same the type of . . . influence over me." Aldo's cold eyes scowled at the venom he picked up in some of Prussia's words.

"If I'm in control of you then." His eyes scanned the room, looking for something to help validate Prussia's answers. Aldo's hand out stretched to point towards one of the bags off in the corner of the room. "Go take the map sticking out of it and set it on the wood!" A mixed reaction followed the order. Part of Prussia was perplexed about how such a simple and effortless command made him feel this way, the other part was aggravation that kept his feet glued to the dirt ground and had him look at Aldo the same way a child would to a parent that just told them to do their chores.

His past rulers usually didn't have him do such simple things such as this, such tasks from them were telling him to go fight so and so nation. Sometimes on a cold, wet, and/or snowing battle field where he was forced to fight while watching his men and the enemies' men die in gruesome ways. He had liked to boast about his past accomplishments quite a bit but never about the feeling he got from watching humans fall to the ground, lifeless, everything they had done erased like pencil marks on a paper and were now nothing more than shadow which something new replaced.

The feeling numbed after a while though. Fighting was so much easier when you were focused on what you were doing. Maybe it was the commanding way Aldo had spoken to him that set him off, but, whatever it was he didn't question it further.

Aldo's impatience had grown with each passing second, he was in no way pleased by Prussia's refusal to do nothing but stand and stare at him. "Prussia-"

"You may be king but you can't fully control me." Prussia smirked this time. "Besides I have yet to deem you awesome enough."

"That makes no sense, if I'm king and you're my country then shouldn't you obey what I say?" A thought came to Aldo's mind, causing his hand to move dangerously close to the knife he had recollected from Prussia on his side. "Or are you really not the kingdom of Prussia?" Aldo couldn't help but become more frustrated by Prussia's lack of reaction from the intimidating look he was giving him.

Prussia rolled his eyes, more amused than scared. "I said before that your people have a different influence on me than you." Prussia took a step forward, now trying to give him the same-if not more intense-look then before. Judging by Aldo's reaction, he would say that the two may have had something in common. "You can give them a command that they might choose not to abide by and by doing so neither do I."

Talking to Aldo was like talking to an inexperienced worker, Prussia knew that Aldo couldn't have known everything, though, it was still exasperating to explain something you already know. "You have ash-blonde hair, red eyes, and seem like you have an annoyingly obnoxious personality. You don't really represent them well as far as how you look and act."

Prussia shrugged. "I'm still my own person."

"Maybe you'd be more tolerable if you weren't." He stated dryly.

. . .

Looking down at the map below him, Prussia could only feel even more frustrated over what has become of the world. When Aldo laid the map down on the wood slab Prussia had expected it to be of himself, instead it was of what was the majority of Europe.

Unlike most maps the top of the African continent was not there at all, neither was Great Britain, Wales, Ireland, and the islands of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. The funny thing about it was that Russia and the right parts of Ukraine and Belarus were gone.

However, what surprised Prussia the most about the map was it was mostly labeled 'the world'. After his initial shock came the aggravating part, Prussia had hoped that most of the world he hoped to resurrect was barren and lifeless; but the three large countries on the map said otherwise.

The first one was labeled Belain, the country contained what he knew to be Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The other one, which was in the middle of the two, was labeled The Itravokia Republic. Looking at it, Prussia remembered Aldo saying that he was a former Itravokian solider.

The country's borders started from the east borders of Belain and expanded west to the borders that once were the eastern parts of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Belgrade.

The final country began at the east borders of Itravokia to the other end of the map, its name was Rukaria. "What's wrong? "Prussia didn't lift his head to look towards Aldo, although he heard him, Prussia chose not answer.

So many more questions piled up on the still unanswered ones like papers on a lazy office worker's desk. Some of the things he wondered were what these countries were like. What was the state of their economy? What type of government did they have? But one question most of all found its way to the top of his mind and left a dreadful aching in the pit of his stomach. "What happened to the world?" The words almost didn't make their way out of his mouth, yet despite saying it, the question never meet Aldo's ears.

Prussia finally reacted to Aldo's hand as it clasped down upon his shoulders, causing him not to flinch, but instead to stand and rotate swiftly to face him. Strained red eyes once again fought with almost hollow looking dark mahogany ones. Although they had their differences, both of them wanted the same thing.

The same thing being answers. "Go on," Aldo blinked at Prussia's fierce smirk that replaced the determined scowl that had made Prussia appear as if he was trying to defy him. "Ask me anything." The tone of Prussia's voice had Aldo wonder who exactly in Prussia's mind was king and country, servant and master.

He was hesitant before he started speaking, he went about it slowly; but loudly, almost as if he would start to yell if he became annoyed with Prussia. "The name of this country . . . came from an old document of the country that once had existed many years ago. I had briefly thought that if we were to be given an embodiment of it then it would be." He paused, unsure of how to go about this. "New and different from the previous one." Flames began to spark in Aldo's eyes and the fire in his eye bled into his inflection. "But you . . . you act as if you're the same great kingdom from before! Why . . . why aren't you dead like the others!?"

For a split second Prussia's eyes had widened and his facade disappeared, he hadn't-if not briefly-thought about why he, out of all the countries, was still alive. The only thing that could possibly be an explanation was that they named the land he once owned after him, yet still it felt the same as a parent telling their child that babies came from mommies and no one else.

"Of course I'm not dead!" Aldo stepped back, startled by the intensity of the reaction. With his signature look and smirk, Prussia answered with the most logical and sophisticated answer he could ever say. "Mein awesomeness is harder to kill than a cockroach!"

"You don't know, do you?" Aldo hissed under his breath, thinking how useless he was turning out to be. The only thing that he had liked about him so far was that he successfully insulted Paige, leaving her speechless behind them. "You're just as ignorant as everyone out here!"

"You know, every time you speak I think how you make a perfect king." Aldo's fuzzy eyebrows furled together, the way Prussia looked at him a few minutes ago made him believe that Prussia saw him as a demanding and incompetent fool. Why was he paying him a compliment now?

"Really?" He drawled.

Prussia's growing smirk warned him of the upcoming explanation. "Yes." His lips pulled even farther back to bare his dull teeth at him, Aldo could have sworn they were oddly animal-like or at least they were in his eyes. "You're thick headed, idiotic, temperamental, quick to judge, and a bit spoiled."

"I told you that I don't own anything other than my clothes, how does that make me spoiled?!" Aldo spat, leaning forward like a lion ready to pounce.

"You don't have to be greedy for wealth and luxury to be spoiled." A third voice, like the person it belonged to, strode into the tent with a defiant edge and stopped at its destination next to Aldo, almost slapping him in the process.

Paige stared both of them down with an icy stare; it was cold enough to harden the most caring of hearts, luckily neither of these men had much kindness in them to begin with. "Didn't we te-."

"Don't!" The sound of her had both men flinching, though, it did not make them back down. "I don't care what the bloody hell either of you think, I'm staying here with the both of you and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

Aldo stepped towards her with a challenging glimmer in his eyes. "I can think of about thirteen different things I can do-all of which have been categorized in alphabetical order in the back of my mind since I first meet you."

"If you want to continue breathing then I suggest that's where you keep them."

A length of tension-filled quite followed for a beat. "Uh, Hello have both of you forgotten about the awesome me?!" Paige was almost glad that Prussia had broken the silent showdown while Aldo didn't care at all. "I thought you said you didn't believe I was a country."

Paige's eyes dropped to ground. "Country or not, if Aldo thinks your one that means you're going to be extremely involved i dealing with the well-being of everyone. So that makes you important either way!" It was obvious she had to swallow her pride in order for her to even say that in the silence that followed.

Aldo looked from Paige to Prussia, a bad feeling welled up inside of him at Prussia's silence. "It doesn't matter to me."

"What? You even said yourself that she didn't matter at all to this nation wh-." No word could sum up the anger he felt watching Paige stand there with her arms crossed over her chest, looking at him the same way a student would if their teacher scolded a kid they hated for doing something bad.

"I honestly don't care, she can voice her opinion all she wants and I have the magical ability to block her annoying voice out, just like you." This had both Aldo and Paige for once feeling the same thing about Prussia.

"You know, ever since I learned who you are I've been wondering about the true personality of the people I'm ruling."

Prussia only laughed at this, relishing in his frustration. "Well since we have everything out of the way It's time that I have some questions of my own answered, I'm also going to need to know the complete status of me and the nations around us, but before we do any of that there's something way more important that needs to be taken care of."

"And what would that be?"

With his hands Prussia motioned to himself. "Someone needs to bring me some men's clothing, I may have worn a tunic in the past but I've never went as low as to dress like Hungary." After saying that he pushed another thought to the back of his mind.

The thought being that Hungary would still look like more of man even if she was kicking his ass in a puffy pink doll's dress.


End file.
